Cops

Chet and I have made habit of eating dinner together as a family every.single.night! (Except date night and MAYBE one other night of the month we might not) As the boys are getting older I am happier and happier about that decision. We learn so much about their thoughts and thought process at dinner time. It is a hard time. I'm usually worn out, sick of Colby hanging on me and whining the entire time I cook, the boys are L.O.U.D., it is chaos, and I feel that we spend more time telling them to be quiet than we do eating or talking. But, I know that it's good. Tonight while eating dinner Carson tells me that he wants to be a cop when he grows up. I asked him why a cop, and he tells me, "Because they get to speed! That's the best reason. And because I get to be excited every day." I didn't understand that so I asked what that meant. He said, "Every day I get to do something different, and it will be exciting not knowing what I am going to." I think that he was trying to explain adrenaline. I thought that was a well thought out plan. He's been saying a cop or teacher for about 2 years now. It makes me wonder what will really happen. Carter thought he would be a fireman forever, but now he says that will not make him enough money and he wants to use his brain some more, so he will be an accountant (I love how all kids usually want to be their dad. Too cute!) and a volunteer fireman. Caden lives in Caden-Land where they don't work. They do art all day. He cannot imagine not living with mom and dad. He might just be the boy that lives on the same lot as us for the rest of his life. His wife is going to be one amazing women!!! She will have to like us A LOT! Maybe he'll fly the coop one day, but he gets tears in his eyes when we talk about him going on a mission. He says he cannot go because he cannot be gone from us for that long. Love them to pieces!!!

FHE

Tonight Family Home Evening was... interesting. Some of the fun points. We listened to a song from the hymn book, page 307, How Lovely Our Deseret. It talks about the Word of Wisdom in the second verse so we read it in D&C and talked about what everything was. I told the boys that when it was a very easy decision, right now in their lives, they needed to decide to not break the Word of Wisdom ever. We talked about how very young their friends, and even their LDS friends would "invite" them to do bad things. We told them right now we were going to committ to 5 things, 1-no alcohol, 2-tabaco, 3-coffee, 4-tea, or 5-illegal drugs EVER in their lives. So we told them when they were amazing high school athletes, and were strong and healthy, we would hold up our hand with our fingers spread for the 5. When we left the house in the morning, we'd hold up our hand, etc, and that would be our reminder all our lives. So Cael says, while holding up his hand, "I will never eat meat, drink water, eat tabasco, and that's all I remember." Nice Cael! Not exactly what was taught, but at least he heard something. Just a little confused on what we will do and what we will not do! He is so dang cute! (I lost him again today, surprise I know. I found him in the Yukon eating gum as fast as he could shove it in. Dang boy!!!) Then Caden had the activity. He chose football. It was the first time we have played as a family. It was Dad, Carter, Caden vs Mom, Carson, Cael, and Colby. While playing, Cael handed it off to Colbs to run. We tell Colby to run down the yard, and here comes Caden full speed ahead ready to take his head off! Luckily Chet deflected him at last minute and saved the poor boys life! Chet asked Caden what the heck, and Caden was clueless. (Caden-land I tell you!) Carter said, "The kid is one for crying out loud!" And how would Carter know that? Because about 5 plays earlier Carter tried to take off Cael's legs with a full body tackle. Chet and I had to block the older boys from destroying our babies. Man they are active. And loud. And filled with endless energy!!! Luckily, we are all alive and healthy! And refraining from meat, water, and tabasco if you ask Cael! (Cael knows what tabasco is because Cars is a huge tabasco eater. Papa keeps him HEAVILY stocked!)

Jogging

I think that being a twin could be hard sometimes. Don't get me wrong, there are some major benefits too, like a built in best friend and playmate. But, you are constantly being compared too. We have made it a point to make sure that Carter and Cars know they are two different people. Just because one of them gets to do something, like say the prayer in primary for instance, the other does not get to as well. They are just like 2 other kids. We have also made it a point to tell them that they have different strengths and weaknesses. Carson is really good at music, and Carter is just like his mother, loves to sing, but it's better if we only sing at home! Carson is a natural athlete and has always been better at sports than Carter. Carter is a really hard worker and very diligent in everything he does. The boys are really good to not try to pull their brother down, but embrace it when they are better than them at something. This summer something happened to Carter. He just became stronger and more cordinated and his body matured a ton. Today he ran the half mile for school. It was serious business! He wore the right outfit, had me tie his shoes tight and good, and he was ready. He ran it in 3:54. That seems to be cruising to me!!! That is less than an EIGHT minute mile, at EIGHT years old. He was the third fastest. CRAZY! He said that he jogged the first laps, and then sprinted the whole last one. I am so proud of him!!! I think he has it in him to be a really good runner. He said that he wants to start running with me. How fun!!! I am so frustrated and EXHAUSTED most of the time, but I love these moments when you are filled with pride!!

Carson

Today I had to call into Carson's teacher and ask the time for an activity. I asked her if there had been any problems, besides his ISS the other day, that I should take care of. She told me that she just loves him. She said that she loves his personality, he makes her laugh all day every day, he is polite, a great leader, and he is alway willing to help the others. She said that he is by far the smartest math kid in the class. At a round table with 8 kids, one being Carson, she was trying to explain a new math concept. She said the kids were REALLY struggling to understand, and Carson was just looking at everyone and saying, this isn't hard, just break down the numbers (too funny, because that is what I always tell him. Math is so logical to me, just break it down.) I thought that was awesome. When I asked Cars about it, he started telling me what they were doing like it was crazy they were even wasting time learning it. I was just so proud. He has a REALLY hard time with the tests. He cannot focus long enough to sit 1-1/2 hour for a state test. He just picks answers, and is not afraid to tell you that's what he does. His 2nd grade teacher said she would always have him on the back row so he could move freely without interupting the class. During their spelling tests, he would get up between every word. Open the door, spell a word, get a drink, spell a word, sit on his feet, spell a word, remove his shoes, spell a word, put his shoes back on, spell a word, close the door, spell a word... and on and on and on. What a WONDERFUL teacher!!! Carson scored as high as Carter on all of the new year testing, and even beat him on one. Carter takes being smart VERY serious, and tries his guts out. Carson said that he REALLY tried to take his time and do well. I was glad that he was able to see it paid off. He could care less though. Lately I have been thinking a lot about if maybe I need to medicate him while he is away from home. I cannot imagine being a school teacher and having to deal with 22 Carsons. I would go crazy. He really cannot stay focused for longer than 2 minutes. His primary teacher made him sit on her lap a couple of Sundays ago, and she said he has been a whole new boy since. It embarrassed the crap out of him (which I am not against by the way. If they deserve it and the teacher is at her whits end (do you sometimes use sayings but have no idea how to spell them, yah that was that one), I am ok with it. I think after the conversation today, Heavenly Father has blessed me with an answer for now. I've always known that he just has to be directed in the right direction, but I am so thankful for wonderful teachers who see his potential and help him acheive it. I am pretty sure Carson just has my same mind (crazy and all over the place) and I survived! He will too. He sure makes me mad sometimes, but how I love his spirit too!!! When he's good... he's unbeatable good!

Fakish Dinner

Three weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet, and lose this stinkin weight!!! I have not lost a pound since my 6 week check (and I only have a whoppin 20 lbs to get back to pre-babies weight. YIKES), and it is time for it to go... just ask Carter, he will tell you how gross it is. So, it has been really hard for me to fix dinner. I am not a huge fan of cooking dinner anyways, so add into the equation that I cannot even eat it, and NO THANKS! I asked Chet a while ago if he could help in that category. That is hard to do. It is not his favorite thing either. Dinner has been lacking and thrown together alot lately. So, when I went to WalMart this week I bought 7 frozen breakfasts, and 5 frozen dinners. I don't think that I have ever been so embarrassed in my life. My kids (if you take out frozen pizza they eat every other date night, they have Dominos the other half) have not had 7 frozen dinners in their life. We eat out a lot, but not frozen meals. I think the lady would have burnt to the ground if she would have burnt an inch for every minute she was burning judgemental holes in my frozen cart. She asked if I had kids and I told her 5 boys, and that didn't help her opinion of me! They have had: fishsticks, taquitos, pizza, broiled sandwiches, pork and cheese quesadilas, corn dogs, etc. Tonight I was telling Chet that tomorrow I would make dinner. Carter asked if I could, "...make us a real dinner. All of our dinners have been fakish. I hate our dinners lately!" Chet and I got a good laugh out of that. It makes me feel good to know that now they will appreciate my meals even more. Sometimes you need to lose what you have to really appreciate it! No more "fakish dinners". So stinkin hard!

Cops

So, we had our first run in with the cops, if you don't consider our "relationship" with Fireman Bob a run-in with the cops. Who was the lucky boy? Wait for it, wait for it... CAEL!!!!!!!! No big surprise to anyone that knows how this kid just disappears. I have been having a lot of trouble as of late keeping him "found". He runs off into the neighborhood, not to be found until tears, and many moms looking later. The other day I could not find him anywhere. The problem is that he is SUCH a good kid, and always just played alone and quiet. He is so sweet and fun, and has been easy, except the leaving part. I was eating lunch with a friend, talking away, and realized he was gone. It had been maybe 15 minutes since I had remembered seeing him, and I was instantly scared (Usually I don't go longer than about 5 min, now it will be even shorter) I started running through the neighborhood, screaming his name. I had about 5 moms helping me. It was scary. Then I see his bright yellow shirt all the way through the field into the next neighborhood. (I am not good at measurements, but I would say about 400 yards?) Our Bishop lives through the field, so come to find out, he thought, "The Bishops mom (wife) is really nice and I just wanted to say hi." So he walked himself through the field to their house. All the moms were dieing he had walked that far! So, fast forward to this week. I put him in timeout and went to get him. He had climbed out his window and was GONE! I found him at the neighbors. On top of all this, I dress him every day, and as soon as he can he changes to his PJs again. So the kid is ALWAYS in PJs, that are mismatched non the less! He was found on the side of the REALLY busy road right outside our neighborhood by a neighbor on his way home from work the other day. He was looking for me a special rock. Lovely! Now to today. I was just getting out of the shower. He had come to the door mid-shower (It will be nice to shower alone and without interuption some day, for now Cael will be locked in the bathroom with me now!) so I knew that he couldn't be gone too long. I got dressed quickly and combed out my hair. Then I go looking for him. I start yelling his name, and no response. I run out the front door and start to yell his name, only to see him walking home, putting his shirt on with the help of an officer. Mis-matched PJS and all. No socks or shoes, short sleeve shirt, and about 45 degrees outside. I walk quickly to him and before I can even get there, I am bawling. I picked him up and the poor officer got a mom breakdown. I think that he was getting ready to chew me out. He "informed" me that he was at the top of the street, shirt off, whirling it above his head and moving like he was hoola-hooping. Hooping and hollering too. Through my ugly cry, I told the officer I didn't know what else to do. I told him this was a constant problem. We got an alarm almost soley to keep Cael in. This is a HUGE problem (inheritted from Chet too. I told Chet I wanted to be SOOOOOOO mad at him because they were his genes! He just laughs. Of course I am not mad at Chet though) I told the officer that I needed something to happen that scared him, because we have tried sooooooo hard to get him to understand that it's not ok. I think the officer could tell that I was being sincere, and that he wasn't being neglected. I truely am trying. I truely care. He changed from "informing" me to talking to Cael. By this point, Cael was embarrassed and wouldn't even look up. The officer made him look at him so he could talk to Cael. I told Cael that he had to stay right next to me for the next week, and he was not allowed out of the house except the back yard. He hasn't moved more than about 5 ft from me. Hopefully it scared him straight. Mom bawling, officer looking him right in the eyes "scolding" him. Only time will tell I guess. When the boys were having fire problems, our visit to Fireman Bob solved those problems. Hopefully this does the same to him. I told my neighbor it was going to take a village to raise him safe. Luckily they all think he is the cutest thing ever. It's a good thing he has such a cute personality. All the neighbors just send him home when he comes knocking on their door. I love my neighbors. No judgements. They truely care about my boys!  Cael was Sarah's favorite too. Maybe she is his guardian angel. It's going to take someone that special to keep him safe! This was Carter's solution to the problem. Thanks Carter for helping me. You're awesome!!!

 

Someday I'll look back and miss this, right? You old fogies are dillusional I tell you! How can you look back and miss this! I can see some things missing, but not all this crazy stress!!!

Welcome Back to School

Today I received a personal phone call... from Caden's teacher. It's only a matter of time before I receive one from each of their teachers. They start out all sweet and kind, and really ease into whatever they are calling for. Parents must really get defensive, because they are so gentle at first. Then when they realize that I am very aware, but not ok with their behavior, they get to the meat of the problem. Carson served in ISS, also known as In School Suspension today. He had a choice to either serve 4 recesses, or ISS for one half day. The teacher that he had to sit with was the PE teacher. Not the brightest move on the school's part. Cars was happy as a clam. He loves the male teacher, who really didn't think Cars should be in trouble (he was playing a mercy game of sorts. He went first, and the kid got mad and told on him. We weren't too upset with him either. I know the kid since I go into the school to volunteer, and so I think his story is legit too, but the school had to report and discipline. Military schools I tell ya!) Cars got to hang out with Mr Muran and watch PE class all afternoon and do his work in the gym. Not really a punishment for him, but whatever! So onto Caden's call. His teacher started out by telling me that he has one of the highest scores in the class. It surprised me! Caden is in it WAY more for the social aspect. He could care less about school. He told me today, "I haven't missed one math problem, and I hurry through because I just want to play. They are just so easy." So he gets to go out of the class for "enrichment". He thinks the people in there aren't fun, he'd rather be with his friends. Then she tells me there are some issues. Nice way to put it. He told some kids they could pay him a handful of money and then be in his "club". The sad part is that kids were trying to get money to give him! What a punk. We told him if a kid with 5 eyes wants to play, they will get to play. We hear one more time that he isn't including everyone and he will not play when he gets home. He'd rather us pull out all his hair, one at a time. Next, he was telling people, "If your name is Bridger (or any other name in his class) then I get to ..." Then all the kids would laugh, but usually hurting the one kids feelings. She said he told her that's a game Cars taught him and it's cool. Um... not so cool! She said that he was far and away the leader of the class. He can get the kids to do almost anything, and all seem to follow whatever he does. She wants me to help that be in a good way, not bad, like she feels it has been so far this year. He is too cool for his own britches!!! He needs to be knocked back to reality, where people don't worship the ground he walks on. We'll see what the future holds. Chet and I have some work ahead of us with this one...

Airplanes

Tonight at dinner Carter asked me if he would ever be able to sky dive. I told him that that would be up to him. If he wanted to when he was older, he could do that, but that he would have to be very brave. You could tell that he was thinking about that and then asked if I had ever been. I told him no. He then says, while nodding his head slowly because you could tell he was still in deep thought, "Yeah... they probably didn't have airplanes when you were a teenager huh?" Uh... yeah they did HOSER!! I was born within the last century dude!!! He is really into airplanes right now, reading about them, making paper ones and figuring out what makes them fly better, so he knows they have been around forever! What the heck...

Freak Out

Tonight we went to watch Charity play volleyball. I took the babies with me. We had a fabulous time! They are really good travelers. On the way home, Cael tells me that he needs to tell me something. My mom had taken him over to Charity's bus with her and wanted to take some pictures. I wish I had one to post, he does not look happy, but forced smile scared. So he tells me, "I do not ever want to be on a bus again. It freaked out my life!" He just kept saying it over and over again. It was hillarious! Where do they come up with this stuff!

Not Funny

This morning while eating breakfast, Colby (21 mo old) poured his cereal out on the table. He looked at me and scrunched his face up like he was funny. I looked at him with a mad face, and said, "Colby! That is NOT funny!" He just looked at me with this frustrated look and said, "Oh........(disappointed, as he put his head down. Then he looks back up at me and continues after about 5 seconds) It is funny!" Then he scrunches his face back up and starts laughing.  What a little twirp!!! 

Little Hellion

I was so excited for school to start. I was not ready for the little hellion that was going to emerge from Colby! All of this was in ONE day, after about 3 other things had already happened. This is the kinds of things he does every day. Still easier than having all 5 home, but for crying out loud!!!

The container was almost full of butter. He was eating by the spoonful and there was a good amount everywhere else!

 

You cannot see the half container of syrup that he had poured out on the table. He pours it out and then slurps it up. Those were the left over pancakes that I would normally freeze for later. Look at that guilty face trying not to smile. Little twirp!!!

 

 

 Cake mix that he opened up (with his teeth) and was eating like it was a fun dip with his finger. It was all over the floor too.

I had made myself an omlette and left the eggs out for about 3 minutes. This would be the consequence for that!!!

2 eggs cracked on the floor!

Chilling on the deck that night. He was just sitting there watching everything going on. Either too exhausted to rip some more, or plotting his next move I am sure!

How I like him! Strapped into his seat and all smiles!!! He is too dang cute to stay mad at. Oh number 5, how you test me!!! Anyone that says it's nothing to add more kids after 3, they are WRONG!!! They are dillusional. I have heard that so many times, and I just don't believe them. It just keeps getting harder, and I am more exhausted at the end of every day.

While scrubbing his pants off the other day (a normal occurance that seems to just IRK him to no end!) Chet proclaimed that he was DONE with babies. He was ready to move on from this stage of our lives. Welcome to my feelings since I was pregnant with Colby! Glad we're on the same page Baby! I am about to lose my mind with the 5 I have!!! Love them to no end, wouldn't give any of them back, wouldn't change my life if I could! But we are both TIRED, and ready for a new stage of life!!! Maybe someday we will look at this stage, like when they are all teenagers, and say bring the baby stage back!!!

Hugs and Kisses

I remember thinking the other day that I wasn't getting as many "snuggles" from the boys as I used to. After school I was hugging and kissing Carter, and I asked him why he doesn't give me as many hugs and kisses anymore. I asked him if it was embarrassing to him, all the while I was hugging and kissing all over his face. He said, "At school, YES! But you can still at home." Too cute I thought. He is just getting into that age and stage. At home was fine, but not in front of his friends, we have an image to uphold. Well today I drove Carter to school, but Cars and Caden rode their bikes. When I got to the school the other boys were walking over to the doors. Caden saw me and ran to the car. He jumped in the front seat and gave me a huge hug and big kiss on the cheek. Then he jumped out while yelling, "I love you mom!" Then he saw a friend and yelled their name and ran to him. The boy says, "Was that you standing in the front seat kissing your mom?" and Caden says, "Yeah!" The little boy says, "Whoa, you are so cool!" and they walk over to the doors together. He is so funny!!! I have a feeling my Cade-A-Babe will give me kisses until the day I die, but he can make anything cool. He is just so confident, and couldn't care less if someone thought it was weird. I think that makes everyone think he is cool. It still just baffles me the influence and friends that he has. Like nothing I have ever seen before. I love it!